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House committee advances HF4252 DE2 after tie defeats for multiple amendments; students warn tuition cap will reduce aid
Summary
The House Higher Education Committee adopted the DE2 version of House File 4252 and sent the bill to Ways and Means after debating amendments that would have changed regent appointment rules and added funding to the State Grant; several Republican proposals and others failed on 7–7 ties. Student representatives and university officials told the committee the bill’s tuition‑cap language could reduce aid for University of Minnesota students and risk higher drop‑out rates.
The Minnesota House Higher Education Committee adopted the DE2 amendment to House File 4252 and referred the bill to the Ways and Means Committee after a day of contested floor amendments and public testimony.
The DE2, as described by Nathan Hopkins of House Research during the committee’s staff walkthrough, is primarily a package of Office of Higher Education technical corrections but also includes several substantive changes: a requirement that public post‑secondary schools provide written explanations to students distinguishing developmental courses from credit‑bearing courses; a new anti‑fraud provision; a tuition‑recognition cap that would base Minnesota State Grant tuition recognition on the average tuition and fees charged by public universities rather than on the highest public university tuition; and two new appropriations — an ongoing $1.5 million in fiscal 2027 for an identity‑verification system to combat enrollment fraud and a one‑time $5,000 appropriation for reforestation at Bemidji State University. "The bulk of the DE Amendment consists of House file 4252... those were all Office of Higher Education items," Hopkins said while outlining the bill.
Committee debate focused on several Republican amendments that would have altered appointment…
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